Dagnab it. A true gentleman, who shared his love for the game freely with all of us on TNF. A man of great wit and wisdom from whom I never heard a negative word about anybody, friend or foe. Thanks for sharing, Terry.

Dagnab it. A true gentleman, who shared his love for the game freely with all of us on TNF. A man of great wit and wisdom from whom I never heard a negative word about anybody, friend or foe. Thanks for sharing, Terry.

Just heard the news on our local radio station at lunchtime, very sad news indeed.

I'm so glad we got to chat a bit over the past few years about my 500 Honda which Terry had created as his big bore NS400R prototype in the 1980's, he gave me an interesting insight into original project with some great snippits of information.

I had actually invited Terry to come back to the island once more for the MGP & Jurby classic festival one year so that I could re-unite him with the bike for some photo's but time and advancing years beat us in the end.

Just heard the news. I knew he wasn't well but still it's shocking. I once asked Terry via a message on here if he would put up some photographs from back in the day. As you know he did show us some, but not before explaining that he really didn't like doing this very much lest he be seen as 'being pushy among so many good riders and enthusiasts'. Was there ever a more modest, knowledgeable and friendly top notcher on TNF?

Terrible news ...didn't realise Terry was unwell, neither that he had reached such a ripe age

I have never met Terry in person, but to illustrate what a kind and unassuming person he was, I feel I can permit myself to copy below a private message that I had sent him through this forum a few months ago - and the comprehensive reply he made to my query.....

Hello Terry

The following pic was posted as a quizz on a french forum I take part into . I seem to remember having seen this pic at the time in a french magazine , saying this bike was used by Tom Herron - and I think the pic was from the 1977 (?) Venezuela GP . Can you confirm it is your work, and do you have any specific story about this model that I could share with the french forum enthusiasts ? Kind regards

Philippe

Hello, Philippe, nice to hear from you, I always enjoy your posts, they remind me of my many journeys around Europe, racing and otherwise.

The bike in the picture was one of those sad stories of 'It might have been' or 'if only'. I did describe it in a post sometime last year but I won't bore you with going through the forum looking for it. The chassis is one of the cast magnesium ones I made for Tom Herron in 1977/78 and this picture was almost certainly taken at Jarama, when we attempted to race it in the Spanish GP. The engine was one of the two (250 & 350) which Queen's University had made for Tom during the winter of 1977. Unfortunately, it was a complete disaster, the crankcase being so poorly machined that the 250 would not even fire, even when towed, while the 350 would attempt to start but wasn't able to keep the crank turning.

We were working out of Harald Bartol's workshop in Austria at that time, I lived there for a month in January, building the chassis while waiting for the engines. They arrived very late, needing finishing and it was obvious that they couldn't be ready for the Venezuelan GP, so Harald borrowed two TZ engines off a local clubman and we put those into the bikes and went off to S. America. Unfortunately, they were both in a very poor state of tune and conditions at San Pedro were so primitive that I couldn't do much to improve them, so Tom had a couple of steady rides only.

When we got back, we made a serious effort to get the new engines built for the Spanish and went to Jarama with both bikes, though we still hadn't heard the engines fire, let alone run. When it turned out that we couldn't start them, despite help from KR, Barry Sheene, Kork Ballington and many others, we packed up and returned to Harald's place without even having a ride.

Actually, I wasn't too hopeful about them anyway, even if they had run, because with the drive for the single large disc valve taken off the centre of the crank, the cylinders were quite far apart and in my view, the engine mountings were far too small and wrongly placed to resist the rocking couple which this layout would have developed. I suppose that if they had shown great power, we would have overcome such problems, but it didn't work out that way. I believe Harald tried to develop them at KTM but nothing came of that.

So that was just another one of those unknown, unsung efforts which have littered the pages of history. So much could have happened if they had worked out of the box, but we have to march on and make the best of what we have.

Hope that has been useful for you Philippe, Although it's a bitter-sweet memory, it's always good to recall those events, those people. Thank you for reminding me, we shouldn't forget them.

and he mentioned that Terry had built a couple of magnesium versions, which I wrote and asked him about. Like your own personal reply from Terry, I think it deserves to be shared here now, to show the kind of man that he was.

QUOTETerry,

It was only a ps. at the bottom of a post of mine, on the Philip island thread, maybe you missed it. I was keen to bring your frames into the conversation, but nobody else picked up on it:

Danny Pullen / Jim weeks/ Shepherd TZ / Phillip island '10

I've been a marshaling pal of Dan and Cathy for a few years now, at Waterworks for the Manx and TT. I gave Dan a hand with his bikes at last year's pre-TT at Billown, including his Shepherd. Jim and I had to make a quick alteration to the rear brake pedal, to satisfy the chap at scrotineering (as Dan calls it) I was putting the bike through and the rear 'brake' wasn't to that particular 'scrote's' liking. My protests that "he doesn't use it anyway!" didn't wash, so we had to alter the pedal jildy quick to get Dan away. She later expired, twice, but He didn't have much luck with his bikes that meeting, of the five he was running only the wee Suzuki 250 ran right. Both TR500's blew too.

Anyhow, if you could expand a bit on the Magnesium Heron frames (I was a bike mechanic in Edinburgh in '76, worked beside Tom's cousin Paddy Heron. What a character, his hobby was Morris dancing) I'd be grateful.

regards, John Cunningham, Ayr.

Hello, John, nice to hear from you. Yes, I did miss that P.S. Sometimes the lines under a pic get lost as you perhaps don't have the full page on-screen, then page down a bit quick.

The mag. chassis tale started out full of optimism and ended poorly really, due mostly to the QUB engine debacle. I decided to build them because the previous year, 1977, after a chat with Tom H. I loaded up my 350 Shep in the back seat of a friend's XJ saloon, covered it with all sorts of junk, camping gear, etc and set off for Brno without a scrap of documentation, such as carnets, etc. Practically certain death in Czecho at that time, behind the Iron Curtain, but we were motorcyclists weren't we, regulations mean nothing do they? Actually, the French/Belgian border gave us our biggest worry but we talked our way through it. We always carried loads of stickers and racing posters to ease our passage across borders; back then, the guards always asked for them.

Tom ran the bike in first practice for the GP, was second fastest and expressed a strong desire to ride it at the British GP next weekend, so we packed up immediately and set off home to make a better set of pipes and generally prepare it. Tom was fastest at Silverstone 1st practice and ended up 2nd on the grid but his sponsor objected that he shouldn't risk an unknown bike in the GP so he rode his Yamaha. In fact he retired with a faulty rear shock on the TZ, which was a bit ironic. Anyway, he said he would definitely ride it in the 250 Ulster so we went off to there, where he knocked 10.8 secs off the record and won. We then went on a voyage across Europe and he won at the Nurburgring, then Schwanenstadt, in Austria.

He was thoroughly converted by then and wanted to ride both 250 & 350 in the GPs in '78, using two new QUB engines, so I packed up and came home. I took all the patterns down to the Magnesium casting foundry in Sittingbourne, in Kent and arranged to have three sets of mag parts cast. I got them before Xmas and got them all machined up ready and set off to Harald Bartol's workshop to build them up, ready for the QUBs. With help from Peter, Tom's mechanic, we got them built by the end of January but there was no sign of the engines from Ireland. Since the first GP was in Venezuela and was coming up in February, it was decided that Harald would borrow a couple of engines from a local clubman and use those for this race. In view of this and the need for the QUBs to be built up when the parts arrived, it was decided that Peter would stay in Austria and I would go with Tom as mechanic to Venezuela, which I did.

Unfortunately, the borrowed engines were very feeble and there were no facilities at all over there (that's a whole story in itself!) so we made a poor best of things and hoped for better at the Spanish GP with the new engines. However, to cut a long story a bit shorter, the engines were a complete disaster, the machining being so bad that they wouldn't even start because the cranks were too stiff to turn in the case. We had taken them to the Spanish but didn't get a ride, despite the efforts of most of the paddock, who all rallied round to help.

With the Austrian GP coming up in two weeks, Harald borrowed the 350 engine again and did a decent tuning job on it in time for the Salzburgring. On this setup, in the 350 chassis, Tom led Kork Ballington and Gregg Hansford on the works' Kawasakis for 23 of the 26 laps, when a soldered connection in the Krober ignition broke down and it stopped.

The following day, I came down to the paddock for the post-mortem, to find two brand new Yamahas from the Swiss importer, Hostettler, being prepped for the next GP. Understandably, Tom had to have reliable bikes for the GPs and had decided this was what he was doing, but it was a pretty devastating way to find out what he'd planned. He never discussed it at all and it must have been arranged even before that weekend - in fact, he never spoke to me about it at all.

So you can see what I mean about it ending poorly. I gathered up both my chassis and took them home. With investing in the expensive magnesium and paying my own way even across to Venezuela, you can imagine it was a pretty expensive exercise, ending in what looked like a rejection by Tom, since nobody knew the full story. Not a happy outcome.

One of the chassis went to a customer in Canada and he subsequently won the Superbike championship on it. The 250 went to a museum in Ulster, where it was built up exactly as Tom rode it. The third one was used for spares and the Canadian bloke took most of them. There are actually 42 of the alloy ones roaming round the world somewhere.

I suppose this tale is a bit more than you asked for but it is the history of those three chassis. At least, I've got it off my chest - I must admit it still rankles a bit, it could have turned out so well had those QUBs worked or if Tom had been a little different.

For those of us not familiar with Terry Shepherd's career in motorcycle racing, could someone please find the time for a thumbnail sketch of his life? Thanks.

A biog piece appeared in, I think, Classic Racer. I seem to recall Terry recounting a time when he lived in a homeless hostel on one racing trip to Ireland. As you probably know, Paul, he rode factory MV's and was later a pilot for Francis Beart. He was then among the best of his generation.

It was a class introduced for machines available to be purchased by anyone, an attempt to knock the all-conquering Italian factory multis out of the results. Bob Mac won the 500 and his long-term team-mate Alistair King the 350 class. Formula 1 only ran this one year, 1959.

Edit : The FIM instructed organisers to adopt this class in 1959, but only four of the seven championship round organisers did so.
The combined 350 and 500 race at the Isle of Man TT, and one race for either 350s or 500s at the Dutch, Swedish and Belgian rounds.
The Dutch 350 and the Swedish 500 Formual 1 races replaced the Grands Prix for those classes at those events.
Source : Circus Life, by Don Cox.

Terry Shepherd,once was at alton towers with terry,it was a race circuit once,very narrow just a path.Trying to squeese past a rider he caught his gearlever on the bank knocked it out of gear result bent valve.Back to paddock head off a good few taps with a hammer in the right place and the valve went back in.now he needed a smaller sprocket,Sent me over to ferbrache or fluebrush as he was known to borrow one.If i loan him one hell beat me says he,i will hire him one,!cant remember if he did.differant world methinks.terry nice man as were most of them in the 50s.

Terry Shepherd,once was at alton towers with terry,it was a race circuit once,very narrow just a path.Trying to squeese past a rider he caught his gearlever on the bank knocked it out of gear result bent valve.Back to paddock head off a good few taps with a hammer in the right place and the valve went back in.now he needed a smaller sprocket,Sent me over to ferbrache or fluebrush as he was known to borrow one.If i loan him one hell beat me says he,i will hire him one,!cant remember if he did.differant world methinks.terry nice man as were most of them in the 50s.

Hello, Ancient and welcome. I'm sure I'm not alone in wondering who you might be. Can I ask, are you an old racer?

I'm not quite your age but I know the name. Are you a Londoner, JR? Could number 55 be you ? '57 NW200.

....and the following year, number 8:

good heavens,yes 55 with the streamlining ,put on in frank sheenes workshop in queens square,350 norton pulling a high gear 132 mph,!!but not for long fine tooth bevels went,so buy a 500 with coarse bevels for 57 lovely bike devoloped by doug hele.nr london stanmore middx,same st as gerry turner,nr the pikes and dennis lashmar.

good heavens,yes 55 with the streamlining ,put on in frank sheenes workshop in queens square,350 norton pulling a high gear 132 mph,!!but not for long fine tooth bevels went,so buy a 500 with coarse bevels for 57 lovely bike devoloped by doug hele.nr london stanmore middx,same st as gerry turner,nr the pikes and dennis lashmar.

good heavens,yes 55 with the streamlining ,put on in frank sheenes workshop in queens square,350 norton pulling a high gear 132 mph,!!but not for long fine tooth bevels went,so buy a 500 with coarse bevels for 57 lovely bike devoloped by doug hele.nr london stanmore middx,same st as gerry turner,nr the pikes and dennis lashmar.

I cheated a little bit as the '58 picture gave your name and the earlier shot seemed to resemble you. Yes, dustbin fairings had them skipping along, aye. John, did you later race a G50? I somehow connected your name with Stanmore - I think from old programmes, although I've yet to dig them out - as I was originally from that neck of the woods. I went to school there and lived in Kenton before being transported to the antipodes. I had no idea that Roland Pike, Dennis Lashmar and Gerry Turner (whose son was on here a while back) were also just up the road. Well, welcome again, John.

I cheated a little bit as the '58 picture gave your name and the earlier shot seemed to resemble you. Yes, dustbin fairings had them skipping along, aye. John, did you later race a G50? I somehow connected your name with Stanmore - I think from old programmes, although I've yet to dig them out - as I was originally from that neck of the woods. I went to school there and lived in Kenton before being transported to the antipodes. I had no idea that Roland Pike, Dennis Lashmar and Gerry Turner (whose son was on here a while back) were also just up the road. Well, welcome again, John.

yes had a G50 and a 7R 1959 ex gerry turner he fell off in a big way at brands which ended his racing not a wise move by me,the 7R was quick i was knocked off at the start at silverstone and by the time i got going minter and co were coming,he said he couldnt pass it on the straight,so it must have been good, went to manx and fell off first practise at guthries,split helmet in half,decided amcs not for me two new nortons for 60 tt.lived at kenton when first married,!

yes had a G50 and a 7R 1959 ex gerry turner he fell off in a big way at brands which ended his racing not a wise move by me,the 7R was quick i was knocked off at the start at silverstone and by the time i got going minter and co were coming,he said he couldnt pass it on the straight,so it must have been good, went to manx and fell off first practise at guthries,split helmet in half,decided amcs not for me two new nortons for 60 tt.lived at kenton when first married,!

Wow, two new Manxes in 1960....the stuff of dreams for some of us on here. Terry too told us he got on better with Manxes rather than the 7R, particularly on the Island where he found the AMC bike handled less well. John, do you have any photgraphs that you could whack up and that we could drool over?

[quote name='Russell Burrows' date='Oct 16 2012, 20:58' post='5979501']..
Wow, two new Manxes in 1960....the stuff of dreams for some of us on here. Terry too told us he got on better with Manxes rather than the 7R, particularly on the Island where he found the AMC bike handled less well. John, do you have any

[quote name='ancient' date='Oct 16 2012, 21:17' post='5979519']
[quote name='Russell Burrows' date='Oct 16 2012, 20:58' post='5979501']..
Wow, two new Manxes in 1960....the stuff of dreams for some of us on here. Terry too told us he got on better with Manxes rather than the 7R, particularly on the Island where he found the AMC bike handled less well. John, do you have any

ot unable to load a photo.!yes i found the 7R did not handle like a norton,the front was prone to go first unlike the norton ,thats why i crashed at guthries in manx practise 1959,the marshalls who picked me up said i was fastest through there except for fergus anderson,i advise dont have a favourite corner!,the reason for going to amc was that the manx was won by works nortons,and i thought jack williams might give me a works engine if i went quick enough,re 1960 nortons i had £200 from sale of amcs so new 500 from harold daniell,which i collected from the factory ,lovely sight when it came down in the lift,£100 deposit.then john griffiths of motorcycling told me of a 350 at syd mullarneys at leighton buzzard ,supposedly for read though he denys it.so the remaining £100 deposit,no money left but two bikes for TT,as oil companies wouldnt pay me for manx as i only finished 4 th in 58 expected to win as they( castrol) sent ray petty over for two weeks, .frank sheene came with me,he left the jet well nut loose(think he improved when doing barrys!) so stopped to screw that back didnt help,500 was good.the vintage tuner stan johnson said give me the head and carb and bored them out bigger on his treddle lathe,it went well through the speed trap,need not have paid ray petty that money for the manx,didnt go as well as 58 manx result of accident?plus i found the naked bikes better to ride .then off to nurburgring on way to dover my companion told me he had no money and he was the finance till we got our start money 350.BUT THATS ANOTHER STORY NO FOOD ETC.!!!!!ancient

Good stuff, ancient, thanks. Please give us the next installment soon.

We catch a couple of glimpses of you here:

the north west i loved that race,the speed. 25 engine sprocket 145mph. tanner was getting 150 with full streamlinig,same as the guzzi,only problem 4 speeds bottom gear was so high lots of clutch,think i was 6th and 3rd?on handicap which was where the money was,bob rowe was following me in the wet and fell off."i was doing the same as you"says he ,"no you werent i just rested my hands on the bars darent touch them let it run where it wanted to go.!afterwards still in leathers no time for prize giving rush to belfast wrong side of rd to catch the boat just,cos no more till monday.jack brett took us esso runners 1956 round isle of man in geoff murdocks A90,this race is won on the slow corners,says he .he then i think fell off at sulby bridge,but he was right none took the slow corners as they did at brands etc,till later,set of tyres would last a season usually,we stayed in a hotel on the front which was also the telephone exchange,we went to the race dance the night before in portrush and got back late all shut up crossed rd phone the telephone man let us in,oh i couldnt do that ,but we are racing tomorrow,i couldnt do that he says,hes behind the door.so to beach for some pebbles and throw them on roof,at last harry plews comes down ,i didnt think that was pigeons,!oil companies allways made us do north west as it didnt bar us from doing the manx,

the north west i loved that race,the speed. 25 engine sprocket 145mph. tanner was getting 150 with full streamlinig,same as the guzzi,only problem 4 speeds bottom gear was so high lots of clutch,think i was 6th and 3rd?on handicap which was where the money was,bob rowe was following me in the wet and fell off."i was doing the same as you"says he ,"no you werent i just rested my hands on the bars darent touch them let it run where it wanted to go.!afterwards still in leathers no time for prize giving rush to belfast wrong side of rd to catch the boat just,cos no more till monday.jack brett took us esso runners 1956 round isle of man in geoff murdocks A90,this race is won on the slow corners,says he .he then i think fell off at sulby bridge,but he was right none took the slow corners as they did at brands etc,till later,set of tyres would last a season usually,we stayed in a hotel on the front which was also the telephone exchange,we went to the race dance the night before in portrush and got back late all shut up crossed rd phone the telephone man let us in,oh i couldnt do that ,but we are racing tomorrow,i couldnt do that he says,hes behind the door.so to beach for some pebbles and throw them on roof,at last harry plews comes down ,i didnt think that was pigeons,!oil companies allways made us do north west as it didnt bar us from doing the manx,

Yes, John, you can hear some of them being coaxed back onto the megga out of the slow bits. Were Esso very generous? I see Mike Brookes, who was later killed in the Island, is included in the '58 NW Photo - do you recall much about him?

Yes, John, you can hear some of them being coaxed back onto the megga out of the slow bits. Were Esso very generous? I see Mike Brookes, who was later killed in the Island, is included in the '58 NW Photo - do you recall much about him?

m brookes i went with him once to north west,we both rode triumphs in the clubmans,forgot to take a shirt to n/west for the dance so had to borrow one from him.he was quick but a little wild,he hit the bank in practice once in the island,and tore the sole of his boot which worried me,we used to go to the majestic hotel dances in the island,he had the jaguar converted to take his bikes later owned by paddy driver,looking back there were far too many killed i can think of 30 known to me,thats really bad .most never lived to have children and grandchildren like i.such a waste.but its an addiction you always find a way of affording it ;but its hard to stop.

m brookes i went with him once to north west,we both rode triumphs in the clubmans,forgot to take a shirt to n/west for the dance so had to borrow one from him.he was quick but a little wild,he hit the bank in practice once in the island,and tore the sole of his boot which worried me,we used to go to the majestic hotel dances in the island,he had the jaguar converted to take his bikes later owned by paddy driver,looking back there were far too many killed i can think of 30 known to me,thats really bad .most never lived to have children and grandchildren like i.such a waste.but its an addiction you always find a way of affording it ;but its hard to stop.

Yes, thankfully it seems to be marginally safer nowadays. When did you last race, John? And what I wonder prompted you to stop? I really don't want to dwell on blokes who are no more, but I have a particular interest in Fred Neville - did you recall much about him?

Hi John, in an earlier post you mentioned fluebrush.
He lived close to us and was one of those who got me interested in this sport.
Unfortunately just as I was getting to know him he was no more.
I seem to remember him having survived the war despite all the odds, having been (I think) a tail gunner in bombers.
Do you have any memories of him?
Also J.R. Clark, generally known as Douggie, did you ever come across him?
He was our local Norton dealer but slipped from grace.

Yes, thankfully it seems to be marginally safer nowadays. When did you last race, John? And what I wonder prompted you to stop? I really don't want to dwell on blokes who are no more, but I have a particular interest in Fred Neville - did you recall much about him?

yes met fred at biggin hill,he was a new boy but i knew he was the man on amcs iasked him how to start my G50 which was my first outing on it.his lesson must have been good because i was first away but not for long,as they came past.the attractive girl margaret sheene had brought along said "didnt you want to win",fair question but not one i was likely to forget ,i was in the island with ned minihan for the manx signalling for him at may hill.ned retired half way round on the first lap because he considered the weather just too bad,on my way back to douglas i came to the spot where fred crashed,and the marshalls said each lap he had a slide as he crossed the peak in the middle of the road untill the last one when it let go,,such a waste he had a big lead and could have cruised home,dont think beart was pleased with ned and waited at start of the senior to see if he turned up he did and won,!why did i stop? money none left,had 30? or more jobs as u couldnt get time off to race so i would leave on friday night and b off to the island next day,they were not best pleased, john clark was always about and had the loan of a works guzzi streamliner,always smiling when i saw him. fluebrush fell of in the isle of man,rod broke i think,not uncommon pre 57 i had one go.he damaged his face and ned went into see him and he was asking what do i look like? dont think they gave him a mirror he got his looks back,!.i built a tiger 100 for the vintage racing (the first to do so)won first time out at cadwell which got everone rushing to the workshops to build one,.then classics with K4 fab bike not fast as it was in the begining of them racing 1985 won first time out at brands but never again,then cathcart said if i built a cb450 daytona replica i could race in the ihro,so did that was 1990 once again one of the first to realise the potential of a model,but the engine was massively heavy. now?just got my 1939 m100 de luxe panther with twin headlights,took iook it to silverstone weekend to start and run,where i had my first race in 1953 ,!!!!you lot are wearing me out..not sure when i stopped but titch allen thought i had raced for the longest time,

yes met fred at biggin hill,he was a new boy but i knew he was the man on amcs iasked him how to start my G50 which was my first outing on it.his lesson must have been good because i was first away but not for long,as they came past.the attractive girl margaret sheene had brought along said "didnt you want to win",fair question but not one i was likely to forget ,i was in the island with ned minihan for the manx signalling for him at may hill.ned retired half way round on the first lap because he considered the weather just too bad,on my way back to douglas i came to the spot where fred crashed,and the marshalls said each lap he had a slide as he crossed the peak in the middle of the road untill the last one when it let go,,such a waste he had a big lead and could have cruised home,dont think beart was pleased with ned and waited at start of the senior to see if he turned up he did and won,!why did i stop? money none left,had 30? or more jobs as u couldnt get time off to race so i would leave on friday night and b off to the island next day,they were not best pleased, john clark was always about and had the loan of a works guzzi streamliner,always smiling when i saw him. fluebrush fell of in the isle of man,rod broke i think,not uncommon pre 57 i had one go.he damaged his face and ned went into see him and he was asking what do i look like? dont think they gave him a mirror he got his looks back,!.i built a tiger 100 for the vintage racing (the first to do so)won first time out at cadwell which got everone rushing to the workshops to build one,.then classics with K4 fab bike not fast as it was in the begining of them racing 1985 won first time out at brands but never again,then cathcart said if i built a cb450 daytona replica i could race in the ihro,so did that was 1990 once again one of the first to realise the potential of a model,but the engine was massively heavy. now?just got my 1939 m100 de luxe panther with twin headlights,took iook it to silverstone weekend to start and run,where i had my first race in 1953 ,!!!!you lot are wearing me out..not sure when i stopped but titch allen thought i had raced for the longest time,

Thanks again, John. Ah yes, money, the ever present problem. So many good blokes were forced out over a lack of dosh, aye. Thirty jobs is a lot, John - more than me ;). What sort of things did you do? I thought I saw a reference somewhere to you later racing Hondas. I'll dig it out. Yes, not much doubt that Fred would have gone on to bigger and better things.

Hello , John , it was you last weekend at Silverstone on the Panther ?? , if only I had known ........................ , it looked gorgeous , a credit to you , lovely

bought panther 45?years ago for £15 from the man who bought it new just before the war,it had fallen over in the garage and broken the gearbox shell,looked very forlorn,only finished it last yesr.!paintwork is brill did it with british leylands help at cowley in 69.so a bit drawn out,so will not b taking on any for customers,,pleased with it pulls well.hope to take it abroad next year,

Russ, I've run out of money and seriously think I'm too old now.
Am on the move, up to Broadford, so once established I hope to find the money to get it sorted.
At least I won't have far to travel to test it.
I have a young(er) mate who can ride it if we ever get it to go quick enough.